Winches may include a motor attached to a first drum support and a transmission attached to a second drum support, with a rotatable drum disposed between the first and second drum supports. A tie structure may be fastened to the first and second drum supports and may be positioned vertically above the drum. Some winches may also include a control unit coupled to a top surface of the tie structure.
In some situations, an operator of the winch may want to remove the control unit from the winch in order to service the control unit and/or alternate components of the winch. Additionally, removal of the control unit may be necessary to attach or remove the winch cable (e.g., rope) to or from the drum. Ordinarily, in order access the control unit mounting fasteners for control unit uncoupling from the tie structure, the winch cable may have to be unwound some or all of the way from the drum. This process of coupling and/or uncoupling the control unit from the winch may increase an amount of time and effort in servicing the winch components and/or attaching/detaching the winch rope to/from the winch drum.
Thus in one example, the above issues may be at least partially addressed by a winch, comprising: a housing including a first drum support and a second drum support; a drum rotatable about a central axis, a first end of the drum supported by the first drum support and a second end of the drum supported by the second drum support; and a tie structure positioned directly above and extending across the drum, between the first and second drum supports and from a first to second end of each of the first and second drum supports, where the tie structure is rotatable about a rotational axis arranged at a first side of the tie structure that extends across the drum from the first drum support to the second drum support. In this way, the tie structure may remain secured to the winch and may be rotated in order to increase access to mounting fasteners of the control unit and to the drum. In this way, the control unit may be more easily and quickly coupled and uncoupled to and from the tie structure and the winch drum may be accessed without removing the control unit and/or tie structure from the winch. As a result, servicing of the winch components and/or coupling of a winch cable to the drum may be more easily and quickly accomplished.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.